Navistar changing exhaust technology for 2013

Navistar today announced plans to use a new diesel emissions technology for its MaxxForce 13- and 15-liter engines that now rely solely on exhaust gas recirculation.

The new after-treatment technology is called In-Cylinder Technology Plus (ICT+), said Dan Ustian, Navistar chairman, president and CEO, during a conference call. No specifics were given on the technology, and Navistar took no questions during the call.

Based on its brief description during the call, ICT+ sounds similar to the selective catalytic reduction emissions systems used by all of Navistar’s heavy-duty engine competitors in the United States.

However, in slides accompanying the presentation, Navistar presented ICT+ as distinctly different from “liquid-based after-treatment” systems. SCR uses urea-based diesel exhaust fluid. ICT+ combines the “best attributes” of the company’s current EGR solution with a urea-based treatment system to reduce emissions, spokesman Steve Schrier said after the call.

Navistar’s MaxxForce 13- and 15-liter engines will use ICT+ beginning early next year.

Navistar took advantage of banked emissions credits from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to work on its EGR-only solution past the Jan. 1, 2010, EPA deadline. However, those efforts failed to deliver a compliant engine and the company’s bank of emissions credits is reported to be dwindling rapidly.